


Welcome to the Neighborhood

by Anonymous



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Cultural Differences, Fluff, Hugs, Other, Tentacles, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:07:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25276645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: David's new job requires him to relocate to Cephalon IX, where very intimate contact is the social norm.
Relationships: Tentacle Monster/Original Character(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37
Collections: Anonymous, Battleship 2020, Battleship 2020 - Yellow Team





	Welcome to the Neighborhood

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nan/gifts).



Everyone on the call was muted, but David thought that if he listened hard enough he could hear the sound of 130 employees nervously typing private messages to one another. _What do you think the big announcement is? Are they shutting down the company? Maybe layoffs? Is Kiana retiring?_

Finally Kiana's video window popped up. "Hi, everyone," she said with the genuine warmth that had earned her the loyalty of everyone at Standout Widgets Inc. "I've got some big news, as you might have guessed. And it's good news, so you can all relax."

David's grip tightened on the pen he'd been fidgeting with. Other people's ideas of good news rarely meshed with his.

"I'm thrilled to tell you that Standout Widgets has been acquired by Jrjrjrk ADC. We'll continue to operate as an independent outfit within Jrjrjrk, exactly as we have for the past seventeen years. They benefit from our expertise with mariolettian widgets. We benefit from the stability and resources that only a large corporation can provide. It's a win-win."

David sat back slowly. Jrjrjrk was a household name, but he didn't actually know much about them. They seemed to do a little of everything. Making widgets wasn't exactly in their wheelhouse, but it wasn't exactly outside of their wheelhouse either.

The one thing he did know for sure was that they were based on Cephalon IX. And maybe that meant this would be good news after all.

"Once the acquisition is complete, you'll all be employees of Jrjrjrk." Kiana smiled a little wistfully. "I know some of you wouldn't mind the opportunity for a change of scene, and you'll be eligible to apply for internal transfers. But I hope many of you will choose to stay on the Standout Widgets team. We've all built something wonderful together..."

David tuned her out. He'd heard what he needed to know. 

He spliced in a looped video of himself smiling attentively at the camera and went to put some birdseed out for the pigeons who had decided to roost on his air conditioner. "I'll miss you," he told them. "But I bet you won't miss me." In fact, he was pretty sure no one would miss him, and that was exactly why it was time for him to go someplace new—someplace where it would be easier to make friends. Most people wouldn't think of an alien world that way, but most people weren't David. He was quite sure he had exhausted all possible ways of getting to know humans, and they had brought him a total of zero friendships. At least a new world and a new culture would give him new things to try.

The acquisition took eight agonizingly slow months. The day that David's jrjrjrkadc.cix email address became active, he used it to log into the company job portal and apply for any job that looked even slightly relevant. Three weeks later, he had an offer for a corporate strategy position at the company headquarters. It was technically lower-ranked than his senior designer job, and he would be taking a pay cut of about 15%, but he didn't care. What mattered was the line in the offer letter that read: _All visas and relocation expenses will be covered._

Two weeks after that, he stepped through a portal and into his new home.

He hardly looked at the furniture and clothes; he'd bought them from a reputable catalog and they were probably fine. He didn't even stop to grab a snack. He went right out the front door and stared up at the soap-bubble shimmer of the city-dome, and beyond it, the unquestionably alien green-blue sky. He breathed slowly and deeply, tasting the thick, humid alien air. It was briny, as though he stood on the shore of an ocean, but all he could see around him was... well, suburbia. The architecture and vegetation were very different, but the look of tidy near-identical homes sitting on tidy near-identical lots was unmistakable. Apparently some things were universal.

 _"Oh, you must be the new neighbor!"_ his translator said in his ear. He turned, surprised. He hadn't even realized the noises coming from his left were speech. They sounded very different from the Sklche language he'd heard in the cultural competence training videos.

His neighbor waved a couple of tentacles at him. Somehow he hadn't realized that the Sklche were so small. Pop media made them look like huge monsters that towered over humans. If this one were standing on the ground rather than floating, it would come up to his shoulder. Perhaps it was a juvenile.

"Hi," he said. "Um, I'm—" What was the formula they'd taught him? It was hard to keep his thoughts straight while talking to an alien that resembled nothing so much as a gigantic yellow dragonfly with a dozen pairs of three-foot-long tentacles running down the length of its central body. "My address-name is David and my family-name is Lowenstein."

The Sklche swooped over and hovered near him. This close up, he could see the tiny eye-stalks sheltered among the tentacles. _"Greetings, David of Lowenstein! My address-name is Nhll and my family-name is Chchsk."_

"It's nice to meet you," David said. He took a deep breath. This was the moment he'd been longing for since the very first time he learned about the Sklche. "I am comfortable with Sklche greetings," he said. "May we embrace?"

 _"How wonderful! May we embrace!"_ Nhll exclaimed. Without waiting for a further invitation, it dove toward him and enthusiastically wound its tentacles around him.

David awkwardly wrapped his arms around Nhll, finding the gap betwen its upper and lower wings. He hadn't hugged someone in so long that he'd forgotten how. But Nhll didn't seem to mind. Its skin was cool and smooth; it smelled like salty strawberries. The whirring of its wings created an almost imperceptible hum and sent warm air washing over him. David shivered from head to toe and let himself relax into the alien's cradling tentacles.

 _"You embrace very well for a mammal,"_ Nhll said, running its proboscis through his hair.

"Thank you," David murmured. He felt utterly blissed out.

Finally Nhll released him and backed up a bit. _"Welcome to the neighborhood, David,"_ it said. _"Have you met any of our other neighbors? I would be glad to introduce you around."_

David smiled and blinked back happy tears. "I'd like that," he said. "Very much."

 _"Of course,"_ Nhll said. It bobbed happily. _"Maybe I'll throw you a welcoming orgy. We haven't had a good orgy in a while."_

David tapped his translator, wondering whether it had gotten the word wrong. "I don't think that was covered in my orientation materials," he said. "An... orgy? Like a very... intimate party?"

Nhll made a squeaky sound of amusement. _"You don't need to be euphemistic,"_ it said. _"I know humans have orgies. I've been to a couple."_

"Oh," David said awkardly. "I, uh, never have." He was the last person anyone would invite to an orgy—a human one, anyway.

_"Wow! Then we'll have to throw a really good one for your first. Tap me your contact and I'll schedule it."_

The alien held up a tentacle circled by a black band. David gathered his courage and tapped his watch against it. An orgy. Well, why not? Wasn't the culture of intimacy exactly why he'd come here? "Thanks," he said. "I'll look forward to the invitation."

 _"It'll be great,"_ Nhll said. Several of its tentacle-tips began casually caressing David's back. David had no idea how to process the sensation, but he certainly didn't dislike it. _"I throw the best parties in the neighborhood. Oh, there's Klktk br Nsk across the way. Klktk! Come embrace our new neighbor, David of Lowenstein."_

As a green-gold dragonfly swooped over, chirped _"May we embrace!"_ , and unhesitatingly wrapped gentle tentacles around him, David knew he'd finally found a place where he could be happy.


End file.
